“Everything worthwhile is uphill” – John C. Maxwell
This quote by my friend and mentor – John C. Maxwell, has been resounding to me louder than ever before these past few weeks, as I push forward towards a major milestone – final release of my 7 week/6-month group coaching course – The Exponential Business Growth Academy: 7 Steps to building a Profitable & Scalable Business.
It has been a rather long journey from when the idea dropped in my spirit during a coaching session with my executive coach two years ago in 2016 (Plug- in for the necessity of engaging a good coach). I wanted an offering that would utilize my combined skills, and experience in Accounting, Sales, Systems & Processes, Leadership and Corporate Governance. More importantly, this offering had to include my passion of inspiring those I encounter be their best selves, while living significant lives, plus not restrict me to a fixed location. I love to travel, and I did not want to be tied to being in Abuja, Lagos, Nairobi or Atlanta.
The process began, from this idea of creating something out of nothing to fleshing out the idea. The reality was that I did not know how to create a high-quality course. At the beginning of 2017, I enrolled in one of the best courses in the world that trains professionals on how to create very high-quality online courses. I planned to have my course up and running within 3 months. That was however not to be. I underestimated the difficult work involved in the creative process – where you task your brain to think of possibilities, create frameworks and expand the various thinking into something tangible. Because I wanted my course to be of the highest quality, I knew I needed to stick with the process.
During this period, I had to continue with my normal life activities (walking in my comfort zone) and I abandoned the creation process for a while. I also thought I could take a short cut through the process. Of course, I knew a short cut would be impossible, given the quality of the product I wanted to produce. I needed to climb and conquer this mountain. I needed to get the skills required to climb the mountain successfully and get to the top. Some of the other skills I need to enable me to climb this mountain included copywriting, Facebook ads marketing etc.
While going through this climbing process I had to:
- Recognize the gaps in my skill set – I knew I needed to learn how to create a high- quality course from nothing, except my raw skills and experience.
- Recognize my weakness and leverage the skills of others – I was not strong technically, particularly in the newer technologies – so I outsourced my graphic design, online marketing strategy to the experts
- Recognize the financial investment required – I totally underestimated the financial investment it was going to take to launch the course (and I am not even done). At times, I felt like quitting, because I had used up all my savings. But I knew I could not quit. I had a choice – Do I stop halfway and go down the mountain or continue with the climb? Somehow, the unconscious pull towards the realization of that dream becomes stronger than the push to retreat.
- Recognize the importance of taking a comfort walk around the mountain – To get up the mountain, at some point, you may need to go around the mountain, and not exert as much energy. I would compare that to walking in your comfort zone. This enables you to stretch your tired muscles and regroup. It is okay to do that for a while, to prepare yourself for the next uphill climb.
I am not yet at the top of the mountain. I think my top of this mountain will be when I have 1000 growth minded entrepreneurs go through the course. But I am closer to the top of the mountain than I was when I was at the base. At the base, I was still contemplating whether to get the skills I knew I required to be a good mountain climber. I can also see much clearer how the top looks like and I am so looking forward to staking my flag and taking a photograph at the peak of the mountain…with an exhilarated feeling of accomplishment!
But guess what, I also realize that when I get there, I will have yet another mountain to climb!
What is the current mountain, you know you need to start and/or continue climbing? What skills do you need and/or what experience do you need to leverage to increase the pace at which you climb?